As someone who follows Jesus, prayer is my lifeline. It is the way I connect with God and spend time with Him.
Over the years, I have learned various ways to pray, and this one has deeply impacted and stuck with me. I heard about this method of praying from a sermon at my church (consider this my cliff notes of the sermon) and I hope that it inspires you to go to the Lord more often in prayer!
Matthew 7:7-11 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV)
So before we get into the how of prayer, let’s take a minute to delve into the why. Why should we pray?
1. We should pray because God cares. We see this in verses 9-11. The passage says, “how much more” will our Heavenly Father care for us as his kids. We each know as parents how much we love our children. How much we love to give them good things. How if they asked for bread, we would never give them a stone instead. How much more does our Heavenly Father feel about us and long to give us good things!
2. We should pray because God is capable. Verse 8 says that the one who asks, receives and the one who seeks finds. This means that when we ask, God is capable of bringing it about. It’s important that the desire to help matches the ability to do so, and our Heavenly Father has that ability in spades.
3. We should pray because God answers our prayers. Verse 7 highlights this truth. The question is do we believe it? Now, I know that not every prayer is answered with a yes, and there are many things we could discuss about why some prayers are answered yes and others aren’t. Take it from a woman who has had a miscarriage, I know that not all prayers end in a yes. But, that’s not the point of this passage. This passage tells us to pray and to believe that when we ask we will receive. So let’s start by praying that we’d actually believe these things.
With a solid why in our minds, let’s turn to the how. How do we pray with this kind of trust and belief? Let me introduce you to a little acronym I learned from my church:
P -raise
R -epent
A -sk
Y -ield
Begin with Praise– write a list of all of the things that you’re grateful for. Praise the Lord for who He is and His goodness to you.
After praising, spend time Repenting– Repentance is confession of sin. Turn from your sin to God, and from shame to freedom. 1 John 1:9 says if we confess, God is faithful to forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. In confession, we are assured of God’s forgiveness which brings us peace, and assurance is what gives us the confidence to come before a holy God.
After we have praised and repented, we Ask– ask God for the things on your heart. Be more specific than you usually do. What would God do if he showed up and did exactly what you asked? Less Christian cliques, more specific asking so that you will know when God answers it.
And lastly, Yield– To yield is to say “Lord, your will be done, not my will.” I give all of these things up to you, Lord. “Yielding is a spiritual act of trust that leads you into rest” (James Forsyth), because you know that in prayer you have done everything you possibly can, and you leave it in the capable hands of your Heavenly Father.
What if we truly believed this? I wonder how it might change our lives. So let’s not wait, let’s go to the Lord right now and p. r. a. y.
